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THE THINKING OF THOUGHTS

WHAT IS LE PENSEUR DOING?

Gilbert Ryle

Bibliographic introduction

The following paper was first published in 1968 in the University Lectures !no"18# series of University of $as%atchewan" &t then appeared aschapter '( of )ilbert *yles collected papers !19(1# in which for+ it was cited by ,lifford )eert- in his 19(. paper on Thic% /escription"

& begin by drawing your attention to a special but at first sight +erely curious feature of the notion of doing

so+ething or rather of trying to do so+ething" &n the end & hope to satisfy you that this feature is +ore than

+erely curious0 it is of radical i+portance for our central uestion na+ely 2hat is le 3enseur doing4

Two boys fairly swiftly contract the eyelids of their right eyes" &n the first boy this is only an involuntary

twitch0 but the other is win%ing conspiratorially to an acco+plice" 5t the lowest or the thinnest level of

description the two contractions of the eyelids +ay be eactly ali%e" 7ro+ a cine+atographfil+ of the two

faces there +ight be no telling which contraction if either was a win% or which if either were a +eretwitch" et there re+ains the i++ense but unphotographable difference between a twitch and a win%" 7or to

win% is to try to signal to so+eone in particular without the cognisance of others a definite +essage

according to an already understood code" &t has very co+ple successversusfailure conditions" The win% is

a failure if its intended recipient does not see it0 or sees it but does not %now or forgets the code0 or

+isconstrues it0 or disobeys or disbelieves it0 or if any one else spots it" 5 +ere twitch on the other hand is

neither a failure nor a success0 it has no intended recipient0 it is not +eant to be unwitnessed by anybody 0 it

carries no +essage" &t +ay be a sy+pto+ but it is not a signal" The win%er could notnot %now that he was

win%ing0 but the victi+ of the twitch +ight be uite unaware of his twitch" The win%er can tell what he was

trying to do0 the twitcher will deny that he was trying to do anything" $o far we are on fa+iliar ground" 2e

are :ust drawing the fa+iliar distinction between a voluntary intentional and in this case collusive and

codegoverned contraction of the eyelids fro+ an involuntary twitch" But already there is one ele+ent in the

contrast that needs to be brought out" The signaller hi+self while ac%nowledging that he had not had aninvoluntary twitch but !1# had deliberately win%ed !;# to so+eone in particular !'# in order to i+part a

particular +essage !bey he would have given the soldier

nothing to do" >beying is not a separately orderable action for all that obediently sloping ar+s does not

reduce to :ust sloping ar+s" The verb obeyed cannot be the sole verb in a nonelliptical report of what

so+eone did" &t functions so to spea% in an adverbial role and can be replaces by the adverb obediently or

by the adverbial phrase in obedience to the order"

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,o+e bac% to our win%er" 3erhaps being new to the art he win%s rather slowly contortedly and

conspicuously" 5 third boy to give +alicious a+use+ent to his cronies parodies this clu+sy win%" =ow

does he do this4 2ell by contracting his right eyelids in the ways in which the clu+sy win%er had win%ed"

But the parodist is not hi+self clu+sily trying covertly to signal a +essage to an acco+plice" =e is deftly

trying conspicuously to ehibit so+ething and he fails if his cronies are not loo%ing or are not a+used or

+ista%enly suppose hi+ to be trying covertly to signal to an acco+plice" There is only one thing that he is

trying to do na+ely to ta%e off the win%er and he does this :ust by contracting his right eyelids" et there is

now a threefold internal co+pleity in his own report of what he has been trying to do" 7or he +ay say &

was trying !1# to loo% li%e To++y trying !;# to signal to his acco+plice by trying !'# to contract his right

eyelids" There is so to spea% the beginning of a ,hinese bo of internal subordinate clauses in the

parodists report of what he was trying to do for all that there was only one thing that he was trying to do

na+ely to parody the win%er0 and for all that the cine+atographfil+ records only the one eyelid

contraction" 2e can easily add to this nest of ,hinese boes" 7or our parodist to +a%e sure of getting his

parody pat +ay in solitude practise his facial +i+icry" &n so practising he is not yet trying to a+use anyone

for he is alone" =e is rehearsing for a subseuent public perfor+ance" $o he could report what he is now

doing by & a+ trying !1# to get +yself ready to try !;# to a+use +y cronies by gri+acing li%e To++y

trying !'# to signal covertly to his acco+plice by trying !

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the end but not straight away" ou hear so+eone co+e out with Today is the ' rdof 7ebruary" 2hat was

he doing4 >bviously the thinnest possible description of what he was doing is what would fit a gra+ophone

eually well that he was launching this seuence of syllables into the air" 5 taperecording would reproduce

:ust what he was doing in this thinnest sense of doing" But we naturally and probably correctly give a

thic%er description than this" 2e say that he was telling so+eone else the date" =e was trying to i+part a

piece of wanted calendarinfor+ation so that his atte+pt was unsuccessful !1# if his co+panion did not hear

or +isheard the noises or !;# did not understand or +isunderstood what he had heard or !'# did not believe

or already %new what he was told or !

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is not doing two separately doable things" & cannot :ust practise !period# any +ore than & can :ust obey

!period#" &n practising pronunciation & a pronouncing with a selfdrilling intention and +y pedagogic

intention is not a second thing that & a+ doing or a thing that & +ight be ordered or advised to do by itself"

!e# $o+eti+es we do things as de+onstrations" The sergeant slopes ar+s in front of the recruits to show

the+ how to do it" =e de+onstrates in vain if they do not loo% or loo% only at his face" =e too +ight in one

and the sa+e action be sloping ar+s li%e everyone else in obedience to the co+pany co++anders orderand also doing it as an instructive ehibition of the +anual operation" &f he had +isheard or anticipated the

order he would have failed to obey while still succeeding in de+onstrating the +otions"

Aot all de+onstrations are ehibitions of how to do things" The witness +ight tell part of his story in du+b

show i"e" with a narrative intention" !f# Dery +any of the things that we do are steps towards or stages in

so+e ulterior underta%ing" & +ay wal% to the village to +a%e a purchase or as the first stage of a wal% to a

second village" &n the one case & have wal%ed to the first village in vain if the shop is shut0 in the other case &

have wal%ed to it in vain if a flood lies between the two villages" But & +ight wal% to the first village with

both ends in view and succeed in both fail in both or succeed in one and fail in the other"

!g# >ne final speci+en" 2e do so+e things in cancellation or correction of other things that we have done"

There is such a thing as undoing" 2e erase or cross out things +iswritten shelve what had been pro:ected

dis+antle what we have asse+bled get out of s%ids unsay things that we have said" There can be nounsaying or withdrawing where nothing has been said and scrawling a line across the page is not crossing

our unless there was so+ething already written on that page"

2hy have & produced this long but far fro+ co+plete series of %inds of so to spea% constitutionally

adverbial verbs active verbs that are not verbs for separately doable lowestlevel doings4 Because if & a+

right +ost of the+ plus others that & have not listed are going to enter into the thic% description of what le

3enseur is doing in trying by reflecting to solve whatever his intellectual proble+ is"

&t is often supposed by philosophers and psychologists that thin%ing is saying things to oneself so that what

le 3enseur is doing on his roc% is saying things to hi+self" But apart fro+ other big defects in this view it

fails because it stops :ust where it ought to begin" Dery li%ely le 3enseur was :ust now +ur+uring so+ething

under his breath or saying it in his head" But the uestion is 2hat is the thic% description of what he was

essaying or intending in +ur+uring those words to hi+self4 The thin description +ur+uring syllablesunder his breath though true is the thinnest possible description of what he was engaged in" The i+portant

uestion is But what is the correct and thic%est possible description of what le 3enseur was trying for in

+ur+uring those syllables4 2as he for ea+ple +ur+uring the+4 5nd if so :ust what would have

rendered his eperi+ent successful or unsuccessful4 >r perhaps he had +ur+ured the+ in cancellation of

so+ething previous0 so :ust what was he wishing to cancel and for what defects4 5nd so on"

To say that le 3enseur was :ust saying things to hi+self is li%e saying that our schoolboy parodist was :ust

contracting his right eyelid0 or that the sergeant was :ust fetching his rifle up on to his left shoulder0 or if

you li%e that the hel+s+an was :ust twiddling the hel+ or the eplorer was :ust treading on blades of grass"

&ncidentally not only is it uite wrong to say that le 3enseur is +erely voicing things to hi+self in his head

or under his breath but it is also too restrictive to say that he +ust be saying things to hi+self at all" 7or :ust

one ea+ple he +ight be a +usician co+posing a piece of +usic in which case he +ight be hu++ing

eperi+ental notes and noteseuences to hi+self" =e would the be voicing or subvoicing notes but not

words what words are there for hi+ to voice which would further his wor% of co+position4 7or hi+ too it

would be grossly inadeuate to say that he is +erely voicing notes" &f he is co+posing a sonata say then the

thinnest description of the notevoicing that he is doing would be silent about the intended +usical structure

and ualities of the sonatatobe" &t would be silent about what the co+poser is trying to acco+plish by his

tentative selfcritical and persevering notevoicings" &t would say nothing about the co+posers s%ills

repertoires purposes or difficulties" Aow & hope we are in a position to approach the heart of our uestion

2hat is le 3enseur doing4 2e shall approach hi+ ladderwise" $uppose there are in a public par% a

nu+ber of people sitting still chin in hand each on his roc%" The first +an has the :ob of +a%ing a count of

the vehicles travelling in both directions along the road beneath hi+" Aot +erely are his eyes open but he is

carefully eyeing the vehicles in order to %eep a correct tally of the+" =e is not :ust ga-ing but visually%eeping a tally so he is thin%ing what he is doing" Aevertheless he does not ualify as a thin%er of thoughts"

=e is not reflecting +using co+posing or deliberating or if he is he thereby stops attending to his set

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tas%" 2hy does he not ualify4 Because his attention intentions and efforts are riveted to things going on in

the ad:acent outside world" Li%e those of a tennisplayer or a cardriver his tas%s are i+posed on hi+ fro+

eternal circu+stances that are not of his choosing" The occupant of the neighbouring roc% is si+ilarly not

detached fro+ eternal circu+stances" =e is listening carefully to an unfa+iliar tune that is being played in

his hearing by the townband" he is lending his ears and his +ind to strains of which not he but the town

band is the source" =e cannot choose what to hear or whether to hear or not"

,o+pare with these two +en the occupant of the third roc%" =e is going over in his head or under his breath

or aloud a perfectly fa+iliar tune or poe+" =e is hu++ing or +ur+uring it not absent+indedly but with

so+e interest and even so+e degree of absorption" =e can though +aybe not perfectly easily call his tune

or poe+ to a halt when he chooses0 and in going over it he is fully detached fro+ eternal circu+stances"

2hat he is giving his +ind to co+es out of his own resources" et he does not uite ualify as a 3enseur"

7or the tune or poe+ is not his creation0 and the way it runs is to sub:ect to his choices" =e cannot or cannot

easily put his own variations into it" &t runs in a rotegroove rather as the gra+ophoneneedle runs in a

groove" Aor can we after starting to run through the alphabet easily insert a+end+ents of our own0 or even

perfectly easily stop it at the letter "

&n contrast with hi+ and with the occupants of the first two roc%s the occupant of the fourth roc% is

co+posing a tune song or poe+ of his own" The notes or words that he voices or subvoices are at his ownbec% and call" &ndependent of and indifferent to what is going on around hi+ he can produce his notes or

words arrange and rearrange the+ scrap the+ shelve the+ and rehearse selected sets of the+ under no

duress either fro+ eternal circu+stances or fro+ rotechannelled grooves" =e is the author of the notes or

words that he voices or subvoices" =e gives the+ their eistence relegates the+ bac% into noneistence

+arshals the+ +e+orises the+ and so on at his own sweet will" =e is in full control" $o he ualifies as at

least a candidate for the status of a thin%er of thoughts" 7or & suggest first that part of what we reuire of the

+o+entary occupation of a thin%er is that it is co+pletely or nearly co+pletely detached fro+ what eternal

circu+stances i+pose0 and second that the obverse side of this detach+ent fro+ alien circu+stances is the

thin%ers uncoerced initiation and control of his own botto+level +oves and +otions li%e the word

voicings and the notevoicings of a co+posing poet or +usician"

5ccordingly we would allow that the +an on the net roc% who is pencilling dots and lines on paper +ay

be engaged in pondering" 7or though he +ay depend on circu+stances for his possession of pencil and

paper he is free to put down what +ar%s he li%es which to erase which to a+end and which to connect up

in which ways with which others" &f he is trying to design new riggings for his yacht or drawing fro+

+e+ory a s%etch+ap of the footpaths in his parish then he is certainly +editating or pondering :ust as

+uch as a +an who is voicing or subvoicing words in trying to co+pose a ser+on or a lecture or :ust as

+uch as a +an who is hu++ing notes in trying to co+pose a dancetune" The young chessplayer on the

net roc% +ay be trying to thin% out his net +ove or his net three +oves when he is physically waving

his %night so+e two inches above the alternative suares into which it +ight go" =e is so+ewhat li%e the

housewife !for who+ & do not provide a roc%# who +ight try to plan the floral decoration of her dining

roo+ by shifting and reshifting vases and bowls to alternative positions in the roo+ and by shifting and re

shifting flowers leaves and branches to alternative vases and bowls" o+entary circu+stances restrict her

to these vases and bowls to these flowers leaves and branches and to these tables shelves and windowsills" But circu+stances do not coerce her into this as opposed to that arrange+ent" Aotice that in each case

there is a thinnest description of what the person is doing e"g" pencilling a line or dot on paper and that this

thinnest description reuires a thic%ening often a +ultiple thic%ening of a perfectly specific %ind before it

a+ounts to an account of what the person is trying to acco+plish e"g" design a new rigging for his yacht"

=owever we have a long way to go yet" 7or the boy on the penulti+ate roc% trying for the first ti+e to run

through the alphabet bac%wards fro+ E F to , B 5 will hardly ualify as a thin%er of thoughts :ust

be being free to no+inate what letters he pleases in what order he pleases and by having a uite specific

ob:ective together with co+petence to correct +isorderings o+issions and repetitions of letters" =e is

thin%ing what he is doing and his trying is on an acco+plish+entlevel higher than that of being able to run

by rote through the alphabet fro+ 5 to E" But its level is not high enough for what we are after" =e has

+astered a new tric% a tric% which +ay or +ay not have utilities but has no fertility" &t is an eercise

underta%en :ust for the sa%e of that eercise" &ts perfor+ance leads nowhere save towards the acuisition of

a new rotegroove" 2hat le 3enseur is engaged in is +ore than this" But in reuiring +ore than this & a+ not

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reuiring that le 3enseur be an intellectual giant or that his intellectual proble+ be one of history+a%ing

di+ensions" =e +ay be an 5ristotle but he +ay b :ust one of 5ristotles students" =e +ay be a Bis+arc%

but he +ay be :ust a bac%bencher "3" =e +ay be a Beethoven but he +ay be :ust one of us" & a+ going

for the sa%e of epository econo+y to ta%e it that in his ponderings le 3enseur is saying things to hi+self0

and that what he unli%e our alphabetreverser is trying to achieve will be a verbally for+ulatable theory or

policy" $o what & say about hi+ will not apply directly to the thin%ings of say a Beethoven a ,G-anne or a

ercator" These & leave on one side with a pro+issory and apologetic +utatis +utandis" $till en route for

our wanted s%etch of the thic% description or descriptions of what le 3enseur is after in saying or subsaying

things to hi+self let us loo% at the corresponding thic% descriptions of three other people who are uite

li%ely audibly saying things to the+selves" Ta%e !1# the +editating of the +an who is now preparing an

afterdinner speech0 !;# that of the +an who is preparing a electioneering address and !'# that of the +an

who is preparing a lecture to students"

7irst of all all are ali%e !1# in that they are not +erely nattering i"e" ai+lessly voicing words and phrases0

!;# in that they are not +erely trying to thin% up conversational re+ar%s" ,onversational re+ar%s are not

circu+stancedetached" 2hat & conversationally say hinges in so+e +easure on what you have :ust said0 and

your re+ar% was not sub:ect to +y choice or control" *oughly a conversation is an echange of re+ar%s

!and not paragraphs# between two or +ore independent spea%ers" But the successive sentences of a speech or

a lecture or ser+on are intended by their single author to be in so+e +easure internally threaded to theirpredecessors and successors of which he hi+self is also the author" 5 re+ar% inter:ected by a listener brea%s

the thread" $o what the co+posing spea%er or lecturer is at this +o+ent saying to hi+self is +eant to be a

develop+ent out of and a lead towards other parts of his future speech or lecture" That it would be a

digression irrelevant repetitious redundant or incongruous are scores on which a +editated phrase or

sentence or story is dis+issed" $o the notion uite popular a+ong philosophers that thin%ers in saying

things to the+selves are therefore conducting so+ething li%e inward conversations is not +erely

insufficient it is wrong" >ur co+posing spea%ers are trying to co+pose nonconversational internally

threaded seuences of dicta" &n this respect le 3enseurs tas% is li%e theirs" There are not a thousand things

that he wants to be able to propound" There is one thing even if its propounding ta%es 1HHH sentences"

Aet unli%e the co+posing electioneer and unli%e the co+posing lecturer the willbe afterdinner spea%er

does not ai+ to convert or to instruct his hearers or not +uch" =is speech will be a bad afterdinner speechis it is even a good harangue lecture or ser+on" &t is +eant to entertain or to +ove or to re+ind or to

a+use etc"0 it is not +eant to +a%e a difference to what his listeners thin% or %now" They are fellowguests

not +e+bers of his congregation his electorate or his se+inar" &n contrast with hi+ the co+posing

electioneer says what he says to hi+self as potential ingredients in a votewinning harangue" =e +eans to

+a%e new converts and to strengthen the convictions of his +ore fainthearted supporters" =e is out to

persuade0 and if sufficiently fanatical or unscrupulous he +ay use any persuasively effective tric%s that he

can thin% up" 5 plausible but bad argu+ent +ay suit hi+ better than a good but difficult one" The do+inant

successcondition of his underta%ing is the winning and retaining versus the losing of votes"

&n contrast with the electioneer the willbe lecturer at least if he cares about his sub:ect and about his

students intends not to persuade the+ of anything but to instruct the+" The last thing that he wants is that

his hearers should vote for his doctrine without having thought it through" =e wants the+ to accept it for its+erits or even to doubt or re:ect it for its de+erits" &f he is a geo+etrician @uclid say he wants the+ to

accept or re:ect it ua good geo+etricians in the +a%ing and not ua rabid @uclideans or rabid anti

@uclideans"

&n this respect le 3enseur if he +erits our respect is unli%e the co+posing electioneer and li%e the

co+posing lecturer" =e does not want to pull wool over his own eyes but to pull the wool fro+ his own

eyes" =e wants to acuire what the lecturer wants to help his students to acuire a grasp or +astery of

so+ething that is not yet within reach" 5s what the willbe lecturer is here and now saying to hi+self is

+ooted an ea+ined for its possible future educative effectiveness so what le 3enseur is here and now

saying to hi+self is +ooted and ea+ined for its chances of being a contribution to his own conuest of his

own proble+" =e produces a candidatephrase but he dis+isses it for being too foggy or too +etaphorical

for hi+ hi+self to be helped y it0 or he begins to try to adapt to his own present search a line of

argu+entation which has wor%ed well elsewhere and +oots one candidateadaptation after another with

growing discontent+ent since each adaptation in its turn threatens hi+ hi+self with new obstacles"

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There is & thin% a good deal of pro+ise in this assi+ilation of the thic% description of what le 3enseur is

doing in saying things to hi+self to that of what the willbe lecturer is doing in lecturepreparingly saying

things to hi+self" But it will not do as it stands" 7or there re+ains this huge difference between the teacher

and le 3enseur that the teacher has already +astered what he wants his students to +aster" =e can guide

the+ because he is on his own ground" But le 3enseur is on ground uneplored by hi+self and perhaps

uneplored by anyone" =e cannot guide hi+self through his :ungle" =e has to find his way without guidance

fro+ anyone who already %nows it if anyone does %now it" The teacher already %nows up which paths and

away fro+ which blind alleys to bec%on to his students" 7or hi+ these paths and these blind alleys are

already signposted" But for le 3enseur no paths or blind alleys are yet signposted" he does not %now in which

directions he should so to spea% bec%on encouragingly or signal warningly to hi+self" To eaggerate a bit

the teacher is a sighted leader of the blind where le 3enseur is a blind leader of the blind if indeed the very

idea of his being or having a leader fits at all" 2e are re+inded of $ocrates pu--le in 3latos enoI =ow

possibly can $ocrates :ust by as%ing uestions get the geo+etrically innocent slaveboy to thin% out the

right answer to a geo+etrical proble+4 $ocrates obviously unsatisfactory answer is that the slaveboy +ust

have learned this geo+etrical truth in a previous eistence and that $ocrates uestions had served +erely as

+e+oryfloggers" The slaveboy was :ust with $ocratic pro+ptings resurrecting a piece of already acuired

but sub+erged %nowledge0 and $ocrates was only doing what the barrister crossea+ining a witness often

does na+ely retrieving halfforgotten %nowledge" $ocrates answer obviously will not do since it +erelypostpones the uestionI =ow was the geo+etrical truth originally discovered in that supposed previous

eistence4 2as it thought out then4 >r again only resurrected4

,onsider this particular pedagogic techniue of posing uestions in order to te+pt or provo%e the students

into suggesting their own incorrect or correct answers" 5s%ing uestions and then critically ea+ining the

answers perhaps by further uestions really is one way a+ong +any of inducing students to thin% i"e" to

+a%e their own unsteady steps forward" Aow le 3enseur does uite li%ely so+e of the ti+e pose uestions

to hi+self in the hope that so+e of the+ will te+pt or provo%e hi+self into +ooting tentative answers of his

own for subseuent critical ea+ination" But the huge difference between the teacher and le 3enseur here is

that the teacher %nows and le 3enseur cannot yet %now which uestions to pose or a fortiori in what

seuence to pose the+" There is so+ething of a +ethod or a strategy controlling the seuence of uestions

that $ocrates puts to the slaveboy0 there can at the start be no such +ethod or strategy or hardly any

controlling le 3enseurs selfuestionings" =e does not yet %now where he needs to get or which paths will

lead towards and which will lead away fro+ where he wants to get and which will lead nowhere at all" But

perhaps this is too pessi+istic" 7or so+eti+es fro+ having been in partly si+ilar :ungles before le 3enseur

+ay not indeed %now but have so+e idea which directions loo% a bit +ore pro+ising than which" &n any

particular case such a faintly pro+ising loo% +ay prove to be a cheat0 but it re+ains a sensible policy to try

out the pro+ising ones before trying out the unpro+ising ones" &f fro+ previous eplorations he has

acuired so+ething of an eplorers eye for country of this general sort then in the long run the initially

pro+isingloo%ing ways will have been rewarding +ore often that the unpro+isingloo%ing ones" @lse he

would not have acuired anything of an eplorers eye for country of this general sort"

$o le 3enseur if not an absolute novice will in posing uestions to hi+self be doing so certainly not in the

teachers %nowledge that they are the right ones to as% but also not entirely rando+ly" $o+e of his self

interrogations stri%e hi+ at once occasionally wrongly as obviously silly uestions to as%0 others as notobviously silly" $o we can see that the enuirers selfuestionings are indeed unli%e the pupiluestionings

of the teacher :ust in the fact that they can be only eperi+entally posed" =is very uestions are the+selves

so to spea% uestions on appro ueryuestions" They have no assured heuristic strategy behind the+"

But they are also unli%e the absolute novices selfuestionings since they really are eperi+entally posed"

=e poses the+ anyhow partly in order to find out whether or not they are the right uestions to pose that

is whether they are going to be heuristically rewarding or unrewarding" The enuirer is not saying didactic

things to hi+self0 he is eperi+entally saying uestionable didactic things to hi+self" 5ll of $ocrates

uestions to the slaveboy were pedagogically well chosen and as%ed in a wellchosen order since $ocrates

already %new 3ythagoras theore+" But 3ythagoras hi+self in first ecogitating this theore+ had had no

such guide" =e got to his destination no by following signposts but by eperi+entally and unconfidently

following often up blind alleys eperi+entally planted signposts of his own each with its warning

uestion+ar% inscribed on it" =e had to find out by persevering trial and freuent error which of his

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eperi+ental uerysignposts would and which would not be +isleading signposts if read without the

ueries"

&n short & suggest that at least part of the thic% description of what le 3enseur is trying to do in saying things

to hi+self is that he is trying by successJfailure tests to find out whether or not the things that he is saying

would or would not be utilisable as leads or pointers" They are not pointers but only candidatepointers0 and

+ost of the+ will have to be turned down after ea+ination" $o+ewhat as +y schoolboy parodist was notwin%ing but parodying win%ing0 and so+ewhat as +y strea+:u+per was not trying to get across the strea+

but to find out whether this or that trac% of his own +a%ing would or would not ualify as a guiding as

opposed to a +isguiding or nonguiding trac%"

>f course in real life the things said by the teacher to his students will not all or +ostly be uestions" =e will

suggest corollaries counterea+ples and re+inders0 he will predict difficulties and diagnose the sources of

difficulties0 he will reproach co++and ehort advise and warn and all as instructive pointers in what he

%nows to be the right direction" $o while he the teacher is in solitude preparing his lecturetobe he will

be thin%ing up and critically thin%ing about possible lecture ingredients of these and lots of other

didactically wellualified and welldirected %inds" ,orrespondingly though now a slice higher up in the

sandwich le 3enseur in saying thins to hi+self will be +ooting and suspiciously ea+ining not only

uestions but also ob:ections warnings re+inders etc" only not didactically as already certified instructivepointers but eperi+entally to find out whether or not they would be or could be profitably followable

pointers" &t is their didactic potencies if any that he is trying to find out be testing their very hypothetical

pro+ise against their +ostly disappointing perfor+ances" $o he says the things that he says to hi+self not

so to spea% in the encouraging tones of voice of the teacher or the guide who %nows the way but in the

suspicious tones of the unopti+istic ea+iner of their credentials as potential didactic leads" The pioneer

having no leaders trac%s to follow +a%es his progress if he does +a%e any progressby studying the fates

of the trac%s that he hi+self +a%es for this purpose" =e is ta%ing his present paces not to get to his

destination since he does not %now the way but to find out where if anywhere :ust these paces ta%e hi+"

The paces that had ta%en hi+ to the uag+ire would have been a travellers bad invest+ent but they were

on a +odest scale the eplorers good invest+ent" =e had learned fro+ their fate what he had not

previously %nown that they would have been and will be a travellers bad invest+ent" &t was for such a

lesson positive or negative that he had ta%en the+" =e had so to spea% ta%en those paces interrogativelyand incredulously" But when he has finished his eplorations he will then be able to +arch along so+e

stretches of so+e of his old trac%s pacing this ti+e not interrogatively but didactically" =e will be able to

pilot others along ways along which no one had piloted hi+ and delete so+e of the ueries that he had

inscribed on his own originally hypothetical signposts" 5s :u+ping a strea+ in order to find out if it is

:u+pable is on a higher sophisticationlevel than :u+ping to get to the other side so eploring is on a higher

sophisticationlevel than piloting which in its turn is on a higher sophisticationlevel than following a pilots

lead" $i+ilarly @uclid trying to find the proof of a new theore+ is wor%ing on a higher acco+plish+ent

level than @uclid trying to teach students his proof when he has got it0 and trying to teach it is a tas% on a

higher acco+plish+entlevel than that on which his students are wor%ing in trying to +aster it"

Aone the less it +ay still be true that the only thing that under its thinnest description @uclid is here and

now doing is +uttering to hi+self a few geo+etrical words and phrases or scrawling on paper or in the sanda few rough and frag+entary lines" This is far very far fro+ being all that he is doing0 but it +ay very well

be the only thing that he is doing" 5 states+an signing his surna+e to a peacetreaty is doing +uch +ore

than inscribe the seven letters of his surna+e but he is not doing +any or any +ore things" =e is bringing a

war to a close by inscribing the seven letters of his surna+e"

8